CROP DIVERSIFICATION IN A CHANGING WORLD - Mobilizing the green gold of plant genetic resources

EUCARPIA Genetic Resources 2017

08-11 May 2017Montpellier, France

*** Abstract submission is now closed ***

Call for abstracts

The conference aims to increase our understanding of the challenges we face as a community of stakeholders in PGR conservation and sustainable use, and of opportunities for transformation in the PGR use system. In plenary we will learn from the experiences of actors in all elements of the system, and in parallel workshop sessions tackle specific issues impeding the system’s functionality. The conference will conclude with a panel discussion and resolution on future needs to support a workable and sustainable PGR use system.

Presentations are sought on actions (any activity undertaken by stakeholders in the PGR use system, including research) related to the topics listed below which are organized under four plenary session themes. You will be required to select the relevant session when submitting your abstract.

Presentations should be placed in the context of the PGR use system, highlighting the reasons for the action (i.e., who are the stakeholders and what are their needs), as well as challenges and actual or potential solutions in planning and/or implementing the action, and lessons learned in the process. Specifically, authors are requested to consider what we need to do as a community of stakeholders in the PGR use system (i.e., through strategies for conservation, characterization and evaluation of germplasm, pre-breeding and breeding, to seed systems and markets) to mobilize PGR in order to diversify and increase resilience in agricultural systems to mitigate the impacts of global change.

THEME 1: PGR conservation – in nature, in production systems and in genebanks

The Theme 1 topic addresses actions to conserve a diverse range of wild and cultivated PGR (including crop wild relatives, landraces/farmers’ varieties, and neglected and underutilized species) to meet the challenge of diversifying and providing resilience in agricultural systems. Presentations should address linkages between conservation actions and the sustainable use of the conserved diversity, as well as comment on actual or potential synergies between in situ/on-farm and ex situ approaches.

THEME 2: Breeding for diverse farming systems ‒ the roles of the formal and informal sectors

The Theme 2 topic addresses breeding for resilience in crops. Innovators in plant breeding (whether plant breeders in the public or private sector, or farmers) are faced with new challenges such as creating varieties to cope with rapidly changing and uncertain abiotic and biotic stresses and meeting shifting demands in the agricultural sector (e.g., an increase in agroecological cultivation systems). Presentations should address how these challenges affect plant breeding strategies, as well as comment on the availability of a sufficient breadth of breeding material through effective and efficient conservation, characterization and evaluation strategies.

The Theme 3 topic is dedicated to exploring cross-sector collaborative programmes in plant breeding, such as public‒private partnerships involving public research institutes and private companies, or participatory approaches involving farmers, public research institutes and the seed industry. Presentations should address the particular role of these approaches in meeting the challenge of diversifying and providing resilience in agricultural systems, as well as comment on the availability of a sufficient breadth of breeding material through effective and efficient conservation, characterization and evaluation strategies.

Sustainable use of PGR involves value chains which are dependent on markets for raw and processed products. The Theme 4 topic addresses issues related to value chains and marketing of PGR products, with an emphasis on the impact of markets on the intra- and inter-specific diversity of both commodity and traditional crops. Presentations on approaches and methods in support of crop diversity-friendly markets are particularly welcomed, along with case studies on enabling policies.